By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    Once the gateway to South Portland for motorists
traveling over the Million Dollar Bridge, Waterman Drive will be
reconfigured to fit into the surrounding walkable Knightville
neighborhood.

    On Monday, the city council, with Jim Soule absent,
unanimously awarded a bid for $190,750 to Maietta Construction of
Scarborough for phase one of improvements to the Waterman Drive right
of way, measuring 1,300 feet in distance from E Street north to Thomas
Knight Park. The work is scheduled to be complete by October 12.

Maietta was one of three vendors to respond to a bid mailed out to 29
general contractors. In base bids, vendors ranged in price from
$150,297 to $214,252.

    Funding for phase one will be derived from 2006 and
2007 community development block grants (CDBG) and the 2007 capital
improvement plan.

    “It really is a roadway that has served its time,”said Acting City Manager Jim Gailey.

    In a position paper to the council, he added, “The
[Knightville] Neighborhood Association felt as though the roadway in
its current design and use did not fit the fabric of its neighborhood
and did not provide a design that welcomed pedestrian and bicycle
access.” Gailey also stated that a local car dealership is currently
using the road as a “test track.”

    Phase one is geared toward creating a boulevard feel
on the water side or west side of Waterman Drive through the addition
of street trees. The plan also calls for the narrowing of the road
width and an extension of the curb line as well as the installation of
paved walkways and seating areas. Gailey said parking will be preserved.

    Maietta’s bid also includes the extension of street
lights, similar to those in Thomas Knight Park, along the right of way.


    Gailey said a design for the area was accepted two
years ago, but the city has been acquiring funding in a “piecemeal
fashion.” The city first began to look at the project with the
Knightville Neighborhood Association in 2004, which Gailey said also
marked the city’s beginnings with the CDBG program.

An alternate to the original bid, which the city currently does not
have enough funds to include, calls for the construction of a six-foot
wide pedestrian walkway, two concrete paver seating areas and crosswalk
painting on the east side of Waterman Drive.

    “For me, this kind of feels like the conclusion of
the replacement of the Million Dollar Bridge,” said Councilor Linda
Boudreau. “It’s time to finish the neighborhood.”